Kasich capital budget includes $1B for schools, colleges – but nothing for communities

Christmas will not come early this year for Ohio communities that have counted on state capital dollars to help pay for civic improvement projects.

That became clear Wednesday when Gov. John Kasich rolled out a $1.7 billion capital budget plan to fund public construction projects over the next two fiscal years beginning July 1.

More than half of the money – $1 billion – will go to bricks-and-mortar projects in public school districts and at state colleges and universities. But there is not a single penny for the sort of community projects that have been funded in the past.

The last capital bill, approved by state legislators in 2008, provided funding for the Scioto Mile riverfront park and improvements at 21 other sites in Central Ohio, including the Columbus Museum of Art, King Arts Complex, Columbus Zoo, Franklin Park Conservatory and COSI Columbus.

Kasich had consistently said such projects would not be funded in this capital bill go-around due to tight state finances to cover more capital spending debt and the governor’s aversion to pork-barrel projects.

“It’s become too much of a ‘who can grab what’ process,” he said during the rollout of his capital budget plan and a broader mid-biennium budget review. “We want to make sure it makes sense.”

Kasich also said funding for community projects could return in some unspecified form in the next capital budget bill, but that won’t be for another two years.

But his capital budget does include $363.5 million for local infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and sewage treatment plants. The Ohio Public Works Commission will award that money to local communities.

The $675 million to the Ohio School Facilities Commission will be enough to support construction projects in 40 to 50 schools districts in the 2013-14 biennium, according to the Kasich administration.

The plan also provides $400 million for higher education projects. Its earmarks include $50 million for the new Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry Building at Ohio State University and $5 million to renovate Union Hall at Columbus State Community College.

Also on the funding list are $3.9 million for construction of a new Ohio National Guard armory in Delaware and $15 million for improvements at the State of Ohio Computer Center in Columbus.